November 21, 2019
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THE WIZARDRY OF OS
The last couple weeks of football have been confusing. The Saints get whooped by the Falcons, LSU’s defense can’t stop Ole Miss, and other surprising results. But, I can easily explain why these things happen. It is a long season. You might not like hearing it, but sometimes it is that simple. Each season is its own novel and each week is its own chapter.
The Falcons regrouped coming off their bye and have stomped the Saints and Panthers on the road. Nobody saw it coming, but in hindsight it makes sense. The Falcons are a talented team that now has nothing to lose and can take on the mentality of “us against the world” which is easier to do on the road. What still doesn’t make sense is how poorly the Falcons played the first half of the season.
The Minnesota Golden Gophers had an extremely soft schedule for the first 8 weeks. They took advantage of an opportunity against Penn State at home and they deserve credit for a great win. But, the challenge is to respond the next week on the road at a good, not great Iowa team was too much. They fought, but came up short.
Baylor had the same challenge in reverse. The Bears were extremely fortunate on the road to beat TCU, and then turned around this week to host Oklahoma. Baylor was great in the first half, but fell short in the second half. Most likely, running out of gas.
These are examples of why we all must wait until the end of the season to look at the full resume of teams before fretting over what should have been. The grind of the NFL season tells us everything we need to know about who deserves to make the playoffs. The best teams have the depth, talent, and character to handle the grind.
In college football, it will never happen, but we have to wait until it all shakes out. That is why I told LSU fans last week to chill out about Alabama and just enjoy the victory. I hate seeing what happened to Tua, but it is a reminder that injuries can change everything.
I have the same message to LSU fans this week. I hate how poorly the defense played in the second half against Ole Miss. I guarantee the defense does as well. The reality is the defense lost its focus and got embarrassed as a result. LSU’s defense isn’t great, but it can be good enough when they are desperate and hungry. Yet, the line between being good enough and losing control of the game is extremely thin for this group. We have seen that line disappear in the second half against Texas, Alabama, and now Ole Miss.
The good news is the 2007 LSU football team won the BCS, and could not stop Arkansas in the regular season finale. It’s a long season.
LSU beat Texas on the road when Texas was healthy on defense. LSU beat Florida and Auburn who are pretty good. The Tigers have now won handily at Ole Miss and Mississippi State, and LSU beat Bama in Bryant-Denny.
That being said, for LSU to complete this magical journey, the defense clearly has to get better. They must find a way to play a full game on defense against good teams. What everyone must keep in mind is that if things work perfectly, LSU still has 5 games and seven weeks left in the season. There is a lot of time for this team to improve, and it is realistic for that to happen, especially given the time between the SEC Championship game and the playoff.
Ohio State and Clemson are probably playing their best football right now. Good for them. How long will that last? Can they sustain? It is pretty easy to play your best football when the team on the other side of the field has no athletes that can make plays on their own.
LSU is coming off of a 6 week stretch where they played Florida, at Mississippi State, Auburn, at Alabama, and at Ole Miss. There are most likely only three teams in the country that could match what LSU did over that stretch and they are Ohio State, Clemson, and LSU. Let’s be proud and continue to enjoy this ride.
HEY REF
Of course my attention is solely directed at what the NFL does with the helmet swinging Myles Garrett of the Cleveland Browns. Unless you live under a rock, etc. you know what I’m talking about. Last week’s game between the Browns and Steelers, always a tough game, will go down in history as one in which you reap what you sew. By that I mean the circus that’s become of a once proud professional endeavor deserves this type of behavior from its players.
Today’s NFL is a joke of massive proportions. The NFL took immediate action (Ha-Ha-Ha) by suspending Garrett indefinitely and/or for at least the remainder of the 2019 season. What should’ve happened? Well, that’s an easy question for me to answer
The home standing Cleveland Police Department needed to take Mr. Garrett into custody, charging him with assault with a deadly weapon. I can hear it now “Oh, Mr. Ref that’s too harsh”!
Sorry but that’s nowhere near being excessive. I’ll take my part of this argument just one step farther and ask this simple question “what would’ve been the proper action for the NFL to take if Pittsburgh’s Mason Rudolph had sustained enough blunt force trauma that he died on the field or in a hospital”? Another question we should all be asking is what if Rudolph laid in a coma for weeks before either dying or recouping six months down the road?
Garrett wanted to be present when the NFL considered his punishment and subsequent appeal to return to the games. And you guessed it; this writer finds it unacceptable for him to do anything but accept the harshest possible punishment and that would be a lifetime ban from the NFL! I find it a complete waste of time to call a meeting in which the league discusses his punishment since the only thing to consider is the fact he hit another player with a deadly weapon and he should be in jail facing attempted murder charges.
Garrett is trying to bring attention to another helmet swinging action done back 2013 by Antonio Smith in which the league suspended Smith for just three games. This comparison reminds me of that ‘ole saying your parents would scream at you asking if “somebody is jumping off a bridge are you going to jump too”? I mean he’s trying to say what he did doesn’t warrant any harsher punishment. If the NFL doesn’t ban him for at least two additional seasons then they’re just going to reap much harsher behavior by these “gangsters”. And the NFL will have lost control of their employees.
Sooner rather than later it’s time for the 32 owners to grow a pair and hand out the proper punishment in this case which has just one true answer and that is there is no room in this business for Garrett’s actions and he should find employment elsewhere. But we all know they’ll cave because the money won’t stop filling their pockets and bank accounts. Enjoy this period because it’s going to happen again and again and again because the inmates are running this circus!
Till next week…
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